In Sudan, the military council and the opposition are fighting for power. Hundreds of thousands of protesters continue to call for a civilian government. Whether this succeeds is open.
They paint the colors of the national flag on their cheeks, their arms and their faces. Pancakes, sandwiches, eggs and soups are offered along the roadside. They hook themselves, dance, sing, shout „freedom, peace, justice“.
Folk festive mood among hundreds of thousands crowded on the streets of Khartoum. The mood is over, the concern is serious. They want to bring the revolution in Sudan to a happy end, to defend their newly won freedom, to assert a change of power that deserves this name.
„I have been at the forefront since the first day of the protests,“ says Mohamed el Neima. „We fight for the dignity of our entire people, for freedom and security,“ says the engineer. „The old regime has deprived us of our freedom, we did not obey the law, and now we’re building a new Sudan where justice is needed.“
Power poker at the headquarters of the military
Doctors, lawyers, judges have joined the mass movement as well as farmers, day laborers, students from all corners of the country. A colorful cross section of the population. One million people said they were alone on Thursday, say opposition groups.
Many have drawn it where the threads of power still converge: to the square in front of the military headquarters in the center of Khartoum. They want to uphold the pressure on the ruling military council. Especially now, when the talks between the military and the opposition are entering the decisive phase. In one thing, they agree: The rule of the military must be ended. „We all want a civil government, it’s that simple,“ says Ola Azhari.
Bashir’s fall is not enough
However, that is not easy. The old elites do not want to just leave power. Too much is at stake: benefice, money, influence. The new rulers have also served under long-time dictator Umar al-Bashir, were part of the system until his fall on April 11.
The 75-year-old had been doomed by the economic crisis, currency collapse, galloping inflation, as well as corruption and brutal hardship against his own people. What began as a protest against the tripling of bread prices ended in his downfall. The military withdrew its favor from the cunning dictator Bashir and set him down.
But that’s not what the demonstrators want to be content with. They demand the complete new beginning. „Our demands are clear,“ says Mohamed el Neima: „Unlimited freedom for the Sudanese people, justice and peace, no one can be exploited any more.“
Maximum demands, from which the negotiators of the opposition must ultimately make compromises, even if officially nobody wants to admit.
Al-Rashid Saeed, spokesman for the opposition alliance SPA, puts it this way: „The goals of the revolution are non-negotiable, we are committed to implementing them fully, we are just talking about how they can be implemented.“
Remove „Canker Bashir“
The military council is at least willing to compromise. Three controversial members have resigned. A concession to the opposition. With the one agree on many points, he says. In the other points, committees would now look for solutions. „We reopened the call channel after a break,“ says opposition spokesman Saeed. „The other side has asked us, the goal of the talks is to find a deal.“
That could be a tough process. However, time is running out for the opposition groups. If the negotiations drag on for months, their power base threatens to erode, the pressure of the road to lessen.
However, at least they have learned from the experience of the failed revolution in Egypt: it is not enough to change a few men at the head of the state. The new rulers simply continue or exacerbate the old system.
A protester who does not want to be named puts it in a nutshell: „If the military does not carry the Bashir cancer, we can accept it. If they do, they must go.“ The hour of truth is approaching. Without compromise, however, the transfer of power will hardly succeed.
